TNI Bureau: Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Mayawati’s BSP always sought to dump the BJP, invoking communal card. They say BJP is the most communal party in India and should remain “untouchable”. But, the recent reports released by Union Home Ministry have revealed that Uttar Pradesh, where SP and BSP enjoy the maximum support of people, is the place where most number of communal riots took place in 2012.
Communal clashes and crime against Dalit women and children are on rise in Uttar Pradesh. The state reported as many as 104 cases of communal riots in 2012, as compared to Gujarat’s 50 cases. Major communal clashes were reported from Bareilly, Pratapgarh, Mathura, Faizabad, Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Meerut, Bhadohi, Kanpur, Allahabad and Lucknow.
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In Uttar Pradesh, 34 people died and over 450 were injured in communal clashes. In 2011 too, the state had recorded 84 communal clashes with the death of 12 people. The rising number of communal clashes and deaths in Uttar Pradesh, has raised serious questions over the rule/misrule of Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government and role of main opposition party BSP.
Another Congress-ruled state Maharashtra reported 83 cases of communal clashes in 2012. At least 13 people were killed there. The BJP-ruled states Madhya Pradesh (78 cases, 11 deaths) and Karnataka (54 cases, 3 deaths) are not far behind. Gujarat (50 cases, 5 deaths), Andhra Pradesh (45 cases, 2 deaths), Rajasthan (30 cases, 6 deaths), Kerala (46 cases, one death), Bihar (17 cases, three deaths), Tamil Nadu (11 cases, 2 deaths) and West Bengal (22 cases, 8 deaths) portray a gloomy picture at the national level.
Till October 2012, 560 communal cases were reported from across the country with the death toll at 89. The situation was no different in 2011, as 91 people were killed in 580 clashes that year.